Going Private NOW!!!!!!

So after I realized people can comment on my blog, wow, I was so behind, I also realized Chinese people were leaving creepy messages scary!!!! Hopefully this fixes all that, I reported it as spam!!

Birfdayz

Recently we celebrated my momma's 62nd birthday, hooray for retirement! About a week later my newest nephew Vincent Jay Montgomery was born. I know it's probably too early to tell, but he is a sweet sweet sweet boy! Oh yes and my blog is going private in T-1 month, send me your emails!
Love, Liz

addendum

If this is your only contact with me because you live far away please send me your email as well, I know I spy on some of my friends I miss, and would be very sad if I couldn't peek at their blog although I should really call them more.

Going Private

After talking with some good friends about the effects of blogging I've decided to go private. There was some study done where they found that moms who blogged spent an average of 18 hours a week social blogging. These women on average had a lower self-esteem after viewing other women's blogs. I don't feel that way about myself and hope that I'm not contributing to anyone's low self esteem. If you'd like an invitation please send me an email at lizconnolly@gmail.com , I've really made my blog for a journal for myself and family hopefully they will be able to view it after I've gone and computers aren't abolished or something.
Love,
Liz

Teaching Kids Faith

So I've started working on my personal progress again, that is Mormon lingo for a program the young women do to grow and develop virtues for their future. As I am now working with them I decided it would be fun and it has been. I interviewed my mother-in-law on how to teach children faith. For those of you who don't know my mother-in-law raised 13 kids in an extremely loving and happy environment, they've all turned out better than good if you were to ask 10 out of 10 people. Anyway, she said it's who you are and what you do. TJ also told me that what he noticed about his mom is she was/is confident, happy, and a really good example to not only her family but all those around. Come to think of it when I look at the most faith-filled people I know they are really happy. So I'm working on strengthening my faith. Some things I've learned along the way are:

• we are the only ones that limit God, He can really do anything
• we must work and do all that is in our power, ex. we can't break our arm and expect God to set it back in place with out at least trying to place it in the proper form fist, He could do it, but we need to do all we can first
• praying with faith is necessary, even though the very act of praying shows we have faith, when we actually believe He will answer our prayers, He will, and probably when you are just relaxed and not worried
• when we make decisions by faith we don't have to worry, God is on our side

Well that is just for starters.

Coincedence? I don't think so!

So long ago when I was in the MTC (Missionary Training Center) I had a teacher that said "Coincidence?, I don't think so" pretty much all the time!

So the story unfolds, REWIND TJ gets a new mission president, my father volunteers to drive the missionaries to their Mission Meeting, he picks up two sets of elders and eats lunch with them, he thinks to himself looking at Elder Connolly, I wish Liz would marry someone like him.

Meanwhile I get called from Temple Square to the Nevada Las Vegas Mission. We are told that our mission is picked by who the mission president is. I love Pres Wadsworth, we even share the same birthday, which we celebrate while I'm out there! I return back to Temple Square in January with Sis Keller who is going home to Salt Lake, she is actually Pres. Wadsworth's niece and and an amazing missionary if I ever saw one.

FAST FORWARD to after my mission I go to Sis Keller's wedding, and she happens to work at my new boss' work pretty cool.

FAST FORWARD to my institute class when I first saw TJ's big blue eyes and knew he was for me!

FAST FORWARD even further to today, we attend the Aveson family reunion and I'm looking at the family tree, turns out TJ's grandma is first cousins with Pres. Wadsworth's father. Coincidence? I don't think so! Glad to know God is watching out for me!

Jack Johnson

So about a month back I casually or not so casually dropped hints to TJ such as "look at that billboard Jack Johnson is coming August 13th", and "you know Jack Johnson is the only person I would pay to see", finally in desperation I put the ticket site on the front of our computer to which TJ said "who is that, is that what Jack Johnson looks like?" YES! YES! I answered and repeated the above hints, I know I should know after a year and eight months that guys don't take hints. Finally I came home Friday night exhausted the only thing that sounded good was to relax and listen to Jack but I had just resigned till next year and told myself I would buy better tix ahead of time. Then TJ said "let's go", I shed a tear of joy. Jack goes back to my days of Ben Harper I loved Ben Harper but then somehow around "I Always Have to Steal My Kisses" and "Bubble Toes" I crossed over and sorry Ben, never went back. I have so many good memories with Jack. When the "On & On" album first came out I was staying in a hostile right on the beach of San Diego, I remember them playing the album for the first time as the sun was setting and "Rodeo Clowns" came on and then the shore sounds of "Symbol in My Driveway" mixed with the real sounds of the shore. I remember dreaming of my future with the album "In between Dreams", waiting till midnight to download "Sleep through the Static". After my mission Jack was the only music I could listen to.... and then this year I was having my worst day at work ever and got sent home, well I asked if I could go first but then when one of my managers kept accusing me of doing something wrong that I really innocently had done not knowing it was wrong he sent me home, I went and ate lunch with Heather pictured above and bought the newest Jack Johnson cd, what a good day after all. I ran most of the Wasatch Back to the latest album. I love Jack's idealistic nature I feel we are cut out of the same mold. Anyway he was AMAZING live, he has a great talent in vocal, guitar, and lyrics. He did some cool mixups too like playing Bubble Toes to the tune of Steal My Kisses, that Steve Miller Band Song and all my favorites well they pretty much all are my favorites. His very last song was Angel, TJ learned that song for me, one day while we were dating he said he was praying for an angel and God told him he already had one, I told him Jack had a song about that and he learned it and played it for me all the time, along with the Ben Harper but that's about a dyeing person.

The Coconut Cake I'll never make again

As you can see I made a traditional coconut cake well I neglected to take a picture because the frosting was like marshmarshmallow (yes that's how I say marshmallow) and it just dripped down the sides. One nephew said it was the best cake ever!!! So I learned coconuts have eyes kind of creeps, especially since you poke them out and drain them. I also learned that a coconut is neither a fruit, a nut or a seed, but fibrous one-seeded drupe. A drupe is a fruit with a hard stony covered enclosed seed like a peach or olive. Anyway, I started this at 11pm hoping to have it ready for my lil'sisters baby shower, she is supposed to pop on Saturday poor thing! After you drain the coconut you hammer it for EVER at first it makes a high panging noise and then it turns into a deeper noise and then you hear cracks pretty cool. Luckily the people who live above us were out of town. I would like to admit that I am coconut obsessed and still looking for a better coconut recipe.

You belong among the wild flowers!

Trial Lake, in the Uinta's where I caught my first fish a Rainbow Trout I named Pinky!

















































We did a little ax throwing and I made it my first time and yes that was my face!












Lily Lake was really cool I'm not sure I've ever seen Lily pads like that in real life. I tried out lots of settings on my camera on this trip.

You may also notice this fly kept trying to burrow in TJ's head while he was tying his fly, no matter how hard I beat the thing!

We hiked up to several lakes and concluded our trip to the Uinta's at Provo Falls. Utah-7, Colorado-11
Today was also the birth of my newest niece, Brynn Jasmine Andreadakis, she was delivered after 2 hours of labor and weighed 11 lbs, if you saw how little my sis-in-law is you would wonder how it is possible. Each of her babies keeps getting bigger.
I got called to be the mia-maid advisor at chuch, that's teaching the 14-16 year old young women, I'm so excited to work with the young women, I feel at home in there. I was sad to be released from nursery and will hold to my belief that it is one of the best callings in the church! I will miss snack time and all the adorable and wonderful little people. TJ is still in there and he told me one of the sweetest, spunkiest, most smiley, little girls colored pictures for us at her home and told her parents they were for TJ and Liz, it made me feel so loved that a 2 year old even knows my name.